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Mercedes-Benz is on the eve of launching a new generation of its new flagship sedan, the S-Class, and has announced this new generation will be available in different hybrid versions.

As with every generation before it, customers expect the new S-Class to set standards across the board to retain its accolade as “the best automobile in the world”.

In its first year the new S-Class line-up features two hybrid versions, a gasoline model and a diesel variant: S 400 HYBRID, S 500, S 350 BlueTEC and S 300 BlueTEC HYBRID.

Mercedes said all models boast class-leading efficiency and up to 20 percent lower fuel consumption than the outgoing model series. All the engines already meet the requirements of the Euro-6 emissions standard.

In addition to this, the S 400 HYBRID and S 350 BlueTEC meet the strict criteria of efficiency class A, while the S 300 BlueTEC HYBRID even has an A+ rating.

“The new S-Class achieves consumption and emissions figures that only a few years ago seemed utopian, even for executive cars,” says Prof. Thomas Weber, member of the Daimler Board of Management responsible for Group Research and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “And this is just the start of our ‘Green Leadership’ initiative: soon to be followed by the S 500 Plug-In HYBRID – the first S-Class with a fuel consumption lower than four liters per 100 kilometers (58.80 mpg).”

The S-Class line-up therefore includes the full range from gasoline and diesel models to gasoline, diesel and plug-in hybrids for the first time.

The S 300 BlueTEC HYBRID is set to show the way aerodynamically with a cd figure of 0.23 thanks to additional aerodynamic optimization measures.

The first ever car without a single light bulb

100 years or so after the introduction of electric lighting in motor vehicles, Mercedes-Benz is now making a complete switch to LED technology – the new S-Class is the first vehicle in the world whose interior and exterior do without a single light bulb.

The lighting’s multi-level functionality is another world first: out of consideration for any road users behind, the intensity of the brake lights is reduced at night or while waiting at traffic lights. Almost 500 LEDs illuminate the road, the vehicle, the interior and the trunk.

Depending on equipment, these include:

Headlamps: each with up to 56 LEDs

Tail lights: each with up to 35 LEDs (plus 4 for the rear fog lamp)

Interior (including ambient lighting): approx. 300 LEDs

Visibility is enhanced by two assistance systems that have undergone some key improvements – Adaptive Highbeam Assist Plus and Night View Assist Plus. Thanks to a new stereo camera and multistage radar sensors, the S-Class has 360-degree all-round vision and detects potential dangers on the road better.